Penn State has had five Grade-A top-flight recruits since the 2004 season: Derrick Williams, Dan Connor, Anthony Morelli, Justin King and Chris Bell. Only one is still on the team.

After two spotty years, Bell, a wideout, is gone for good, having been accused of pulling a knife on a teammate.

Wideout Williams comes back for his fourth and final year with decent numbers and some spectacular plays over the years – not the least of which was his game-winning TD reception against Northwestern in 2004, a win many point to as the one that turned around what had been a dormant program. But D-Will has not been a consistent 5-star threat, to use recruiting vernacular.

And then there are Connor, King and Morelli – three of the best in the nation coming out of high school at linebacker, defensive back and QB, respectively. All were entered in this weekend’s NFL Draft. Connor went in the third round, King in the fourth and Morelli was not drafted.

Folks, this does not bode well for Penn State’s future recruiting efforts. It’s one thing to land these big-timers, but quite another to develop them into first-round draft picks -- or even second-rounders.

Sure, I acknowledge responsibility on the part of the players themselves to get better. And I acknowledge Penn State’s top priority is not to develop players for the NFL.

But I guarantee you that top high school players around the nation are looking at the draft and taking mental notes about what schools produce the first- and second-rounders.

In the last four drafts, including this year’s, Penn State has had only two first-round picks and just one second-round selection. That is not getting it done in terms of player development.

Morelli, in particular, is Exhibit A. He arrived as one of the five best QBs in the nation. He leaves as a likely free-agent signee.

Sure, Penn State is 31-9 in its last 40 games. But if I’m a top recruit, why would I go to Happy Valley if the coaches don't consistently produce top draft picks?

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D.Will's Northwestern TD catch was 2005, not 2004.

It's gonna be interesting to see if the creators of the 2008 Beaver Stadium "pump up" video (played on the scoreboard a few minutes before kick-off at every home game) choose to include Chris Bell's big 50-some yard reception against Notre Dame from 2007 that set us up near the goal-line. Definitely the second biggest play of the game, and one of the biggest plays of the season. I can't imagine they'd include it, or any Austin Scott highlights for that matter either.